


Of Marshmallows and Men

by Monsterunderkilt



Series: The Manse [25]
Category: Actor RPF, Celebrities - Fandom, RPF - Fandom, Real Person Fanfic - Fandom, Real Person Fiction
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:34:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27255787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Monsterunderkilt/pseuds/Monsterunderkilt
Summary: Ken learns about being a Manse husband
Series: The Manse [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1209447
Kudos: 1





	Of Marshmallows and Men

My bright pink Sharpie highlighter at the ready, I absently click it as I begin to absorb the verse in my old copy of _The Complete Works_. I’m curled up in the corner of the bedroom, in the velvet white chaise lounge chair with the reading light arcing over it, winding down for the evening. I’m trying to decide for myself if _Venus and Adonis_ is supposed to be a moralising poem or absurdly hilarious when Ken enters and quietly shuts the door behind him.

“Hey, Sir,” I say, the wet squeaky-scratchy sound of my highlighter filling the air more loudly than I’d like. “Ben sends his apologies for slapping you in the bathtub.”

Ken walks over and bends down to kiss my temple. “Ben’s a good lad. I don’t hold it against him. I damn near forgot all about it already.” I wink up at him and he winks back before he sleepily heads for the bathroom. After he brushes his teeth and washes his face and changes out of his jeans and jumper, he comes back in and lazily crawls into bed. With a satisfied yawn, he rubs his eyes and pats the bed beside him. “You’ve got all week to absorb that erotic tripe,” he says as he slides down, flat on his back under the sheets.

“This _erotic tripe_ was the first thing William published and it was the primary thing he was famous for in his lifetime,” I say, smirking as I shut the book.

“That’s genuinely interesting,” he says through a yawn. “You’ll out-nerd Dame Judi and Sir Ian any day now.”

I yawn as well, stretching my arms as I get up and cross the room to my side of the bed. He watches me as I climb in and sit up beside him. I blink slowly at him and yawn again, taking one of his hands in both of mine. “What’s up, Sir?”

Ken looks up at me wistfully. “Is this how it’s going to be now?”

“Sorry?”

“You know... your eye wanders and that’s just normal around here, is it not?”

I purse my lips and wrinkle my brow. “Um... Ken... you’re the only one I’m sleeping with, if you haven’t noticed.”

“But you’re in bathtubs with Ben and doing your nails with Alan.”

“That’s a far cry from a snog.”

“Yes, but I’ve noticed that your idea of foreplay can be almost any little thing.”

I shake my head. “Don’t tell me the green-eyed monster is breathing down your neck.”

“No, that’s not it at all,” he says, propping himself up a little, but still fiddling with my fingers. “I’m just... keeping the lines of communication open.”

“You’ll be the first to know if I’m pursuing anyone else, Ken. I respect you too much to hide anything. That’s how it’s always been with my husbands. I love you too much to sneak around.”

He gives me a wan smile. “Good.”

I squeeze his hand and kiss his knuckles, finding his mild jealousy enchanting. “For example... Stephen asked me on a date this week.”

“Oh, Stephen, yes of course,” Ken says, nodding profusely.

I proceed gently. “I think he’s just inviting me to his Guesthouse apartment for dinner and a movie. Just to catch up and talk about old times laughing at the news on the _Colbert Report_ and such.”

“That’s really nice of him.” Still staring at our hands.

I reach up and touch his cheek. “Sir... Can I tell you how much of a marshmallow you are?”

He finally meets my gaze, blue eyes still bright in the dim light. “A marshmallow? I know I’m a bit doughy, but a marshmallow?”

“No, you—you’re not as doughy as you like to say, you... svelte old man, stop being so vain.” I stroke his hair lovingly. “You’re a metaphysical marshmallow.”

“I don’t follow.”

“You and Stephen are cut from the same cloth, you know. All your unabashed whimsy and wildly romantic tendencies in your work through the years lend you that same sweet quality. You know you don’t have to worry about where I will lay my head at night, but you act like it anyway... for my sake. My best husbands still pursue me even after I’ve been completely captured. As long as it’s not ill-willed or smothering, a little bit a possessiveness is flattering.” I see his smile is on the verge of appearing, so I narrow my gaze seductively and pull him closer. “ _Serve God, love me, and mend... I will live in thy heart, die in thy lap, and be buried in thy eyes_.”

The grin I adore cracks open. “Hey, those are my lines.”

“Well, steal some of mine! _I do suffer love indeed, for I love thee against my will_.”

“ _Alas, poor heart, if you spite it for my sake, I will spite it for yours, for I will never love that which my friend hates.”_

We both crumble together like Oreos in the ice cream of our favourite Bard’s verse.

“See now there’s the foreplay I know,” he whispers as he kisses me goodnight.


End file.
